Cholesteric displays are bistable in the absence of a field, the two stable textures being the reflective planar texture and the weakly scattering focal conic texture. In the planar texture, the helical axes of the cholesteric liquid crystal molecules are substantially parallel to the substrates between which the liquid crystal is disposed. In the focal conic state the helical axes of the liquid crystal molecules are generally randomly oriented. By adjusting the concentration of chiral dopants in the cholesteric material, the pitch length of the molecules and thus, the wavelength of radiation that they will reflect, can be adjusted. Cholesteric materials that reflect infrared radiation have been used for purposes of scientific study. Commercial displays are fabricated from cholesteric materials that reflect visible light.
Liquid crystal displays are useful as instrumentation in vehicles. For example, commercial airlines employ LCD instrumentation in the cockpits. Vehicles such as for military use, may use LED or LCD instrumentation. In military vehicles used to conduct stealth night operations, such as army helicopters, pilots wear night vision detectors or goggles that enable them to view objects in the air and on the ground without using visible light. The night vision goggles enable the wearer to view infrared radiation, such as the heat from the motor of an automobile. The night vision goggles may also utilize the ambient infrared light from the night sky to view objects that do not emit infrared radiation. The night vision goggles are worn spaced from the eyes of the pilot so that the LED instrumentation panels can be read when the wearer looks down, without looking through the goggles. Use of current night vision goggles limits the depth perception of the wearer. In addition, visible light may saturate the night vision goggles and render them ineffective. The goggles thus may filter out certain wavelengths of visible light.